QPR win at Stoke

Related Links

Stoke - Stoke crashed to their fourth consecutive league defeat as newly promoted QPR battled to a 3-2 win at the Britannia Stadium.

Two
goals from Icelandic international veteran Heidar Helguson and a Luke
Young strike handed victory to Neil Warnock's side, who moved up two
places in the table to ninth after the win.

Stoke started
strongly, and had vigorous appeals for a penalty waved away after only
seven minutes when Jermaine Pennant was felled in the area after a Joey
Barton tackle.

Yet City did not have to wait long before they
took the lead, with Peter Crouch playing in Republic of Ireland
international Walters who drilled a low shot past Paddy Kenny for 1-0.

Alejandro
Faurlin should have done better with a half chance for Rangers soon
afterwards but his weak shot failed to trouble Danish international
Thomas Sorensen.

Crouch then squandered a golden chance to double
Stoke's lead when he pounced on a mix-up between Anton Ferdinand and
Kenny only to see his first shot blocked before Clint Hill cleared his
follow-up.

With Rangers under the cosh, it seemed only a matter of time before Stoke added to their tally.

But
against the run of play the visitors produced an equaliser when
Helguson struck his first on 22 minutes, the veteran heading home Armand
Traore's cross.

Stoke continued to press, however, and Robert
Huth should have done better with an inviting Pennant cross only to head
over before Matthew Etherington shot wide following a run into the box.

But
after soaking up the Stoke onslaught, Rangers found yet another sucker
punch in the 44th minute, when good approach play by Shaun
Wright-Phillips and Jamie Mackie created an opening for Luke Young who
swept home to make it 2-1.

Helguson then added his second of the
match to make it 3-1 early in the second half, prodding home Barton's
cross to punish poor defending from Stoke on 54 minutes.

Ryan
Shawcross set up a tense finale when he pulled a goal back for Stoke 10
minutes later, and Stoke had strong appeals for a penalty turned down
when Barton brought down Huth late on before Rangers held on.

24.com publishes all comments posted on articles provided that they adhere to our Comments Policy. Should you wish to report a comment for editorial review, please do so by clicking the 'Report Comment' button to the right of each comment.